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Flashbacks
Key Examples in The Secret Garden
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Colin and Dickon:
Burnett positions Dickon Sowerby, a child whom everyone loves instinctively and whose connection to Yorkshire is very strong, as a foil for the abandoned and lonely son of the Manor. Dickon's ease with people and vibrant physical health at first make Colin feel jealous and threatened, but later help him immeasurably as he seeks to heal himself and better his faulty character. When they first meet, in Chapter 19, Burnett describes their contrasting reactions to each other:
Colin had never talked to a boy in his life and he was so overwhelmed by his own pleasure and curiosity that he did not even think of speaking. But Dickon did not feel the least shy or awkward. He had not felt embarrassed because the crow had not known his language and had only stared and had not spoken to him the first time they met.
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Chapter 25
Explanation and Analysis—Father Figures :
Burnett sets up an unusual pair of characters as contrasting father figures in The Secret Garden: Archibald Craven, the Lord of Misselthwaite Manor, and the small, highly personified robin who lives in the gardens of his house. The robin's excellent, loving and attentive parenting is visible for all to see and remark on, in contrast to the public and painful absenteeism of Craven. For example, in Chapter 25 the narrator takes up the robin's perspective, describing his absolute devotion to his mate and children. Nothing is ever as important to the robin, Burnett tells the reader, as:
Unlock with LitCharts A+the immense, tender, terrible, heart-breaking beauty and solemnity of Eggs. If there had been one person in that garden who had not known through all his or her innermost being that if an Egg were taken away or hurt the whole world would whirl round and crash through space and come to an end—if there had been even one who did not feel it and act accordingly there could have been no happiness even in that golden springtime air. But they all knew it and felt it and the robin and his mate knew they knew it.
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